Author: Mike F Robbins

Mike F Robbins is a Microsoft MVP on Windows PowerShell and a SAPIEN Technologies MVP. He is a co-author of Windows PowerShell TFM 4th Edition and is a contributing author of a chapter in the PowerShell Deep Dives book. Mike has written guest blog articles for the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog, PowerShell Magazine, and PowerShell.org. He is the winner of the advanced category in the 2013 PowerShell Scripting Games. Mike is also the leader and co-founder of the Mississippi PowerShell User Group. He blogs at mikefrobbins.com and can be found on twitter @mikefrobbins.

This blog will step you through the process of migrating your Active Directory domain controllers from Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 to Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core. Server Core is an excellent choice for dedicated domain controllers since it requires less maintenance, has a reduced attack surface, requires less management, and will run on less hardware. Lots of people are scared off by Server Core because there's no GUI. To be honest with you, it's a blessing in disguise since you shouldn't Read more [...]

As most systems administrators know, you should log into your computer as a normal domain user who does not have elevated privileges in your Active Directory domain and only run administrative programs with elevated privileges when necessary. You could hold down shift, right click the shortcut, and select “Run as different user” to run a program as a user who has elevated privileges in your Active Directory domain, but there’s an easier, more efficient way to run programs that always require Read more [...]

One of the system optimization tools I periodically run on my computers is CCleaner. It is a freeware program from www.ccleaner.com. During the installation of CCleaner, I take the following options, but this is more of a personal preference than a requirement:
When I run the actual program, I choose the options shown in the image on the right and I don’t make any changes to the Applications tab. For new users, I would recommend taking a look at the help section of the CCleaner website to determine Read more [...]

Problem:
You receive the message: "The job failed with the following error: A failure occurred accessing the object list." in your backup job notification email when attempting to backup the system state of a Windows 2008 Server with Symantec Backup Exec. The actual error from the backup server job is: “e000fedd - A failure occurred accessing the object list.” and the error code is: “V-79-57344-65245”.
Solution:
This error is fairly generic and can be caused by several different problems; Read more [...]

The Instructions listed below are designed to assist you in performing a basic configuration on a new (out of the box) WatchGuard Firebox X750e:
Record the serial number of the Firebox: _____________________________
Log into http://www.watchguard.com/activate and register the firewall.
Save the appliance feature key that is provided during the registration process to a text file. It should look similar to this:
Serial Number: XXXXXXXXXX
License ID: XXXXXXXXXX
Name: XXXXXXXXXX
Model: Read more [...]

Problem:
You’ve added a picture column to your SharePoint “Announcements” list and you now have an unwanted column header that shows up. You only want to remove the column header for specific lists. This method can be used to hide the column header on any individual list.
Solution:
Create a custom view style that doesn't show the header row and can easily be applied to individual SharePoint list views.
As a best practice, make a copy of the "VWSTYLES.XML" file located in “C:\Program Read more [...]

Problem:
You can’t tell what types of documents are in a SharePoint document library because they show a blank icon:
Solution:
Add an icon for the document types. For pdf’s, download the small 17x17 pdf icon from Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html. Save the icon to the “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATEIMAGES” folder on your SharePoint server.
As a best practice, make a copy of the "DOCICON.XML" file located in “c:\Program Read more [...]

Problem:
When attempting to open a pdf document by clicking on a hyperlink from within Windows 7, you receive a blank error message with Adobe Reader in the title and a question mark for the error message. Clicking on the OK button only displays a blank web page and does not open the pdf document.
Solution:
Installing all the available updates from the Adobe Reader 9 help menu > check for updates sub-menu option appears to resolve this issue.
µ Read more [...]

Problem:
You need to remotely manage your Hyper-V server from Windows 7.
Solution:
Download and install the “Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7” from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7d2f6ad7-656b-4313-a005-4e344e43997d&displaylang=en
Enable the Hyper-V Tools from “Conrtol Panel>Programs>Turn Windows features on or off” menu:
You should now have a "Hyper-V Manager" shortcut on your Administrative Tools menu.
µ Read more [...]

Problem:
You receive an error Virtual Disk Manager "The RPC server is unavailable" when attempting to remotely manage Hyper-V Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 Core Installation:
Solution:
Run the following command on the client and on the server:

You have the option of using the Server Configuration menu on the server side if your using Hyper-V Server 2008. Select option 4, Configure Remote Management:
Select option 1, Allow MMC Remote Management:
µ Read more [...]

Problem:
Windows stores a LAN Manager Hash for backwards compatibility with older operating systems. These Hash values are stored in local SAM databases and Active Directory. They are considered to be a major security risk and should be disabled unless you are running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Macintosh Outlook 2001 Clients.
Solution #1:
Using group policy to disable the LAN Manager Hash is the recommended solution since you can easily push the settings out to all of your workstations and servers. Set Read more [...]

The Infrastructure Master Role is one of the three domain operations masters. Its placement is like many other questions in Information Technology, that is, it depends. It depends on the number of domains in the forest and whether or not all domain controllers in a particular domain have been designated as a global catalog server. The infrastructure master is responsible for updating its domains references to objects in other domains in a multi-domain forest by checking its references with the global Read more [...]

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All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Mike F Robbins (mikefrobbins.com) makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.